Postmark: Aug 31,94 11:06 AM Delivered: Sep 30,94 10:06 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-9/30/94
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Message:
*Subsistence is mandated in ANILCA for all rural residents. The law does not specify that subsistence is for Alaska Natives only.
*Subsistence means more than hunting and fishing. It includes important components of clothing (wild furs and hides), fuel (wood for home heating, and in preserving and smoking food), transportation (fish and seal are used to feed dog teams), and construction (a wide variety of trees are used for home contruction, sleds, fish racks, etc)
*Big game animals are not the primary Alaska subsistence food items. The main food is fish. About 65 percent of the state’s subsistence harvest by weight is fish. Land mammals make up less than 20 percent of the state’s subsistence harvest.
*Subsistence does involve money and its exchange. Rural Alaskans use money to purchase basic goods and services. Money is invested in the tools and equipment used for subsistence hunting, fishing, and gathering.
*Use of bow and arrows for most subsistence users stopped over a century ago. Subsistence requires equipment that works, is safe, and is sustainable with ecological and economic conditions over the long term. Firearms have been incorporated since about the 1860’s.
Postmark: Aug 31,94 10:00 AM Delivered: Sep 23,94 10:00 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-9/23/94
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Message:
*Rural Alaskans use a lot of wild foods. According to numerous surveys, many Alaskans harvest more wild meat and fish than the average American buys from the grocery store.
*In general, Native communities harvest more wild foods than non-Native communities.
*Communities with greater mean taxable incomes tend to harvest less subsistence resources.
*In southeast Alaska, high income households and newcomers to rural communities tend to be active subsistence harvesters. So are low income and long term residents to the region.
*Generally speaking, subsistence harvests increase as the distance from road systems increase.
*Why do Alaskans use so much more meat and fish? Alaskans substitute wild foods for “imported” foods because they are expensive and not always available.
Postmark: Aug 31,94 8:32 AM Delivered: Sep 16,94 10:00 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-9/16/94
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Message:
*One way of describing subsistence is with maps which show areas used for hunting, fishing, and gathering.
*Subsistence specialists utilize a wide range of historical information to document historical and traditional boundaries of subsistence use and users.
*Contemporary mapping methods have refined ways these specialists document subsistence use areas. The Geographic Information System (GIS) is a major tool used in mapping this dynamic social process.
*In 1887-88, the Tongass Resource Use Cooperative Survey (TRUCS) mapped subsistence use and users throughout southeast Alaska. TRUCS mapped 31 rural community use areas by quadrangle and specific resource.
*Computer mapping, as in TRUCS, has revolutionized the way specialists use “spacial data” for planning purposes, as well as how several maps are displayed simultaneously. It also shows how subsistence areas change through time; and how several community use areas may overlap.
